The Nazi plan to invade America

In 1942, when the outcome of World War II was unwritten, Life magazine published maps depicting the various ways America might be invaded.

Easy to laugh off today what must have been chilling then: “U.S. fifth column, heretofore held in reserve, blows up the country. The Japs take the West Coast aviation industry, shipyards and oil wells. Then Germans stab at East Coast.”

The maps were speculative, Life’s a response to another speculative article, by science fiction author Phillip Wylie, describing how America’s defeat might go.

If you’re into this sort of thing, consider the upcoming BBC TV series, “The Man in the High Castle,” about 1960’s Axis-occupied America. In Philip K. Dick’s original book, a Cold War is waged on American soil between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.